1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to the recording, the reproduction and the display of video information.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recent years have seen an increasing sophistication of video recording and display methods and apparatus. However, despite tremendous efforts, the television industry still has now been able to place video recording and playback equipment within the reach of the public at large. Few institutions and even fewer individuals can afford to equip themselves with video recording and playback apparatus.
Existing approaches to the problem call for equipment which has to meet very high quality requirements and which for that reason is bound to be expensive and complicated. Existing approaches also require equipment with extremely high bandwidth handling capability.
The effects of this problem are particularly felt in the areas of video tape and video disk recording and playback. In both of these areas, the video information is recorded in what may be called "a multiply coiled recording track." In particular, this multiply coiled recording trach in the case of a video disk is typically the spiral track in which the video information is recorded. In the case of video tape, the multiply coiled recording track comes about when the tape is wound on a coil during the recording process.
The point in both instances is that the longer the recording track needed for recording given video program, the larger will be the size of the recording medium, such as the coiled recording tape or the video disk, necessary for containing the recorded video program. This either renders video tape coils and video disks too bulky for many applications or then requires the provision of several tapes or disks even for programs of moderate length.
Skip field techniques alone frequently have not been adequate for satisfactorily solving this problem, as such methods have tended to introduce a certain choppiness into the video display at the point where they could have yielded some useful reduction in tape coil or video disk size or number. This applies to prior-art skip field techniques in general, including the skip field methods disclosed in German Patent Publication No. 1,214,719, by Telefunken Patentverwertungsgesellschaft m.b.H., issued Apr. 21, 1966; U.S. Pat. No. 3,470,315, by N. Kihara, issued Sept. 30, 1969; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,652,788, by T. Nakashima, issued Mar. 28, 1972, for instance.
In an effort to reduce the flicker of slow scan images, the German Patent Specification No. 1,051,318, by Fernseh G.m.b.H., issued Aug. 20, 1959, suggested that each image be recorded on an endless magnetic carrier and be continuously and repeatedly reproduced from that endless carrier. That proposal had the inherent disadvantage that it necessitated provision of a bypass path for the playback head past the recording head and periodic, rapid channeling of the playback head away from the endless carrier and along said bypass path. The latter German Patent thus also failed to provide a contribution to a reduction in size of the requisite recording media.